GOAL

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane says that Neymar's dream of playing alongside Eden Hazard could come true at the Santiago Bernabeu amid rumours of a mass influx of big stars set to arrive in the Spanish capital this summer.

Los Blancos have endured a dreadful season by their own high standards, with a failure to adequately replace Cristiano Ronaldo's goal threat cited as big part of Madrid falling away in La Liga and being dumped out of the Champions League by Ajax.

Reports have suggested that Zidane will have a massive budget to spend on a summer rebuild, with the likes of Hazard, Neymar, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe all being linked with big-money moves to Madrid – and Zizou himself has done little to quiet those rumblings.

When asked if Neymar could realise his wish of featuring in the same side as Hazard in Spain, Zidane told a press conference: “Yes. A lot of players want to come here and play for Real Madrid, but let's see what happens in the future.

“Will I have plenty of power to decide on transfers and signings? No. I'm not even the boss in my own home! There are people here who are very important to the club that help make decisions and we want to make those together.

“The idea is to empower the attacking line for next season. Let's see what we can do.”

Refusing to let the Hazard conversation lie, journalists pushed Zidane for an answer on whether Hazard could fit in a side with Gareth Bale as rumours continue to swirl that the Welsh winger would be on the move in the summer.

“Yes!” again was the French boss' answer. “All the good players can play together. People told me that I wasn't compatible with [fellow World Cup winner, Yuri] Djorkaeff. What a lot of nonsense, man!”

“You can see that Bale is happy. Whether he plays or doesn't play... he's had playing time under me. At the end of the season we'll see what's what. I'm not the one who says what Gareth has to do now. He's a player who's part of our plans.

“He has played and he will play more before the end of the season.”